A Single Breath
by MaddsLovesTwilight
Summary: Bella put the book down warily, not sure if she should pick it back up again. It was just like her to cause a life threatening catastrophe by a simple paper cut…. AU


**THIS IS IMPORTANT: This is before New Moon, sometime during Twilight. (And apparently James, Laurent, and Victoria don't exist. Haha.) The point is that Edward isn't NEARLY as used to Bella's blood as in New Moon or Eclipse. Please keep that in mind. :D**

* * *

Bella Swan sat on her small bed in her room alone, her dimly lit lamp beside her bed the only illumination in the whole house. She was reading her worn copy of Wuthering Heights, completely engrossed in the words that was absorbing on the page that she already memorized a million times before.

She slowly lifted her finger without looking up, preparing to turn the yellowed page, sliding her finger between the next two pages. The sharp edge of the page sliced the side of her right finger swiftly, causing her to look up from her book in surprise from the sweet pain, inhaling quickly through her nose in surprise from the sting.She lifted the finger up to her face, squinting to see the invisible cut, letting out a breath of air in relief. It wasn't bleeding. Bella put the book down warily, not sure if she should pick it back up again.

It was just like her to cause a life threatening catastrophe by a simple paper cut….

She sighed and stood up to put the book on her dresser and turn the lamp off, yawning widely. Bella turned to the bed again, completely blind from the new darkness, and shifted her hand to pick up the thin quilt draped over the mattress. Instead of the blanket, she touched something hard, smooth, and cold. She froze, sucking in a deep breath of air, eyes popping out. She just stood there, petrified, until Edward finally reached out, pressing his lips to keep from laughing, and took her hand, locked on the side of his neck, and pulled her in his arms.

He held her for a long time, listening to her heart restart, before letting out a chuckle. "I'm sorry for scaring you," he whispered. She laughed shakily.

"No, it was fun," she murmured, turning around in his arms to kiss him. She was surprised to see that he kissed her back just as forcefully, wrapping his arms around her waist, willing her closer. Too soon though, he pulled back. His breath hollow and voice thick.

"You should get some sleep, we have a calculus test tomorrow," he mumbled against the tender spot under her ear, making her shiver and showing no signs of stopping what they were doing.

She groaned. "Remind me to never take calculus again!" she said irritably, breaking the mood. He laughed, his cool breath caressing her cheek. "I think I can do that," he murmured in a thick voice, skimming his nose across her jaw line, inhaling, pressing kisses to her throat, making Bella blush.

"You smell very… potent right now," he commented, pulling away a little to look at her curiously. She raised her eyebrows in surprise.

"Did you hurt yourself?" he asked, instantly aware and concerned. Edward started inspecting every square inch of her, trying to see anything wrong. Bella frowned, confused.

"Not that I know of," she murmured, frowning. She was still dazed from Edward kissing her…. "I think it's just because you haven't hunted for a while now," she said quietly, tracing the blackish purple circles under his onyx eyes, darker than she had ever seen before.

He just smiled a little, taking her hand. "I'm fine. You're probably right though. This is the longest I've ever been with you without hunting, actually," Edward informed her carefully, looking down to see if he had offended her somehow. Always the gentleman.

But Bella just looked worried for Edward. "You shouldn't push yourself-" she started, but Edward silenced her with another mind-scrambling kiss, one hand resting on her waist, the other still holding her right hand, squeezing it gently.

Bella winced.

Edward immediately pulled away, eyes wide with terror. "Did I hurt you? I am so sorry-"

"It wasn't you," she reassure him, staring at her right finger with a mix of pure horror and panic, her heartbeat accelerating.

Perfectly fine just seconds ago, now bleeding, her index finger had a thin incision, about one inch long, was a deep red, bright with blood.

Nobody moved.

And most definitely nobody dared to breathe.

Edward closed his eyes, his jaw locked, a statue of absolute stillness. Bella knew what must be going on in his head right that very second.

The monster, roaring to life, thrashing uncontrollably and violently around, desperate to break through Edward's strong wall of utter Herculean effort and sheer resistance.

His muscles were locked in place, knowing that he should get far, far away. But he couldn't. If he moved as much as a centimeter, he would lose control.

Edward was trying so hard. Every nerve ending on his body, fraying at the very ends, on edge from the absolute struggle to resist every predatory instinct ever known to him, every impulse and desire to attack the one woman that mattered. The one human to ever touch his heart. The one girl that counted. The only one that mattered.

And she was bleeding right in front of him.

Bella couldn't last much longer. She didn't breathe, didn't blink, and didn't even think of moving an inch. She couldn't. But, the longing to scream, to break the silence, to _run_. To tell him to get out, and to save himself from doing something that she knew was unavoidable. That she knew he was going to regret the most out of his entire existence. It was going to rip and tear him apart in agony. And it was all her fault.

Bella's lungs were about to explode. She gritted her teeth with so much force that pain erupted in her forehead with the pressure. She knew what would happen, and she knew that she was only human.

She gasped for air, a single tear rolling down her cheek as Edward met her gaze for a spilt second, a look of absolute dread, mortification, thirst, and love flashed in his eyes, and then he was lost forever, the monster exploding from his cage and murdering Edward in the process, eternally releasing every resistance he had with that one gasp for air.

The real Edward was gone.

And Bella had let him leave.

She loved him that much.

* * *

Andrew Brooks was at a loss. The case of Isabella Marie Swan was a mystery that he couldn't solve no matter how hard he had tried.

Charlie Swan, the girl's father, had sworn that he had gone to sleep when Bella was reading upstairs in her room. He had locked the front door and gone to bed. Chief Swan had reported this panicked, on the verge of hysterics. He was a man who had lost everything.

Brooks sighed, taking a swig of his fifth cup of coffee, running a hand through his hair, exhausted.

All they had found was a corpse, pale and, without a doubt, dead.

There was nothing wrong with her. No bullet wound, no knife injury, nothing.

But the obsession that really had him fixed wasn't what had caused this unfortunate loss, or the absence of harm. No, something a lot more troublesome.

The cadaver was left without a single drop of blood.

* * *

It was 11:58 am. The sun was high in the sky.

It was almost time.

Edward Cullen stood under the colossal clock tower in Volterra, Italy, safe from the light of the sun in the looming shadow. Eyes closed, and head bowed, he listened intently.

He could hear the gears and workings turning and clanking in the timepiece, each second marked a fresh wave of anguish, agony, and guilt.

_Tick…_

He had killed her.

_Tick…_

He was a monster.

"_**Edward **__**NO**__**!!"**_ Alice's high pitched voice shattered the numbness in his mind, her thoughts panic-stricken and horrified; she was too late.

One more second, and it would be the end. He took his last breath, flashes of the girl he loved zoomed through his head, ripping a canyon in his chest where his unbeating heart used to be.

_Bella, Bella, Bella._

_I am so sorry,_

The thunderous clock tolled, the booming sound ricocheting off of the walls of the soaring buildings, making the ground shake and tremble, shattering human ears.

Edward stepped forward in the sun, opening his eyes for the first time, full of torment.

… _so very sorry._

They were crimson red.

* * *

**Thank you to my awesomely terrific beta, Sapphire Mizu, for patching this story up. :D **

**I know, this is a clichéd idea, but it was very fun to write, and that's what counts. **

**R&R!! XD (Please??)**


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